Pictograph Cave State Park, Billings

3.7

#2 of 12 in Parks in Billings

State Park · Historic Site

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Pictograph Cave State Park is home to naturally eroded marine sandstone. These rock shelters were used by native people who created rock art painted up to 2,145 years ago and perhaps earlier. In our 'green' designed Visitor's Center, you can learn about artifacts left behind for over 4,500 years. Located just five miles southeast of Billings, this 23 acre park features walking trails, picnic grounds and interpretive trail stations; everything you need for a fun and educational get away!

This unique place is a site of spirit writing and believed to be used by different native tribes for ceremonial and vision quest purposes. For the entire time people have painted on the walls of this cave, rain water and snow-melt have leached through the sandstone depositing soluble minerals on the cave wall and images. Then, when heavy rains or snowmelt occur, the water saturates the sandstone and that veil of minerals will lift and the images beneath become more visible. While on a dry day you may see 10-15 pictographs, on very wet ones, 30-40 images seem to appear directly from the rock. The Crow people say these images are drawn by the spirits, and whichever ones you see are meant to give you a personal message.

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Pictograph Cave State Park reviews

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TripAdvisor traveler rating

428 reviews

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4.4

By John S

We were passing through Billings on our Montana trip and decided to see this cave.We arrived around noon and the door was locked at the visitor center.We paid $8 by putting it into an envelope. Short.... more

We were passing through Billings on our Montana trip and decided to see this cave.We arrived around noon and the door was locked at the visitor center.We paid $8 by putting it into an envelope. Short.... more »
By Trip07769308943

Worth the drive if you're in the area. Low cost and an easy hike to the pictograph caves. Really cool to see these pictographs and thinking about how natives lived in the area.

Worth the drive if you're in the area. Low cost and an easy hike to the pictograph caves. Really cool to see these pictographs and thinking about how natives lived in the area. more »

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By Kaptkirk

Gotta give this a 5 star....well worth the drive if you're in the area, and the 8 bucks. You can easily see the money is going into the park. All trails are well maintained as is the visitor center, parking lot, picnic area and viewing areas. The quiet and beautiful scenery here is awesome and you just want to stay here for awhile 😊. This also is dog friendly 🐕! The ancient pictographs are faint, but still visible and you can see why this place was a sanctuary for peoples of the past. Come see this yourself!

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By Travis Rudd

Pictograph State Park was a pretty neat stop on our visit to Billings. It was pretty fun to do the short little hike and see the drawings on the wall of the cave. Time has washed a lot of it away but you can still see it if you look close. The hike was not bad at all and the little kids had no trouble making it on their own. There are some portions that are steep, however, it is not for very long. The park is well maintained and I would recommend a stop.

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